


Replacement Goldfish

by Clevinger



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Child Abuse, Emotional Abuse, Existential Angst, Gabriel Agreste is Hawk Moth, Gabriel Agreste's A+ Parenting, Gen, Sentimonster Adrien Agreste, Spoilers up to s02e20 Style Queen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-22
Updated: 2019-11-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 20:27:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21524764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clevinger/pseuds/Clevinger
Summary: The Agreste family suffers a devastating loss, driving Emilie to put her life on the line to make things right. Now Gabriel is stuck with a sentimonster living within his home, and no amount of guilting can make him view it as his son.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Emilie Agreste & Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth
Comments: 28
Kudos: 253





	1. Chapter 1

Adrien Agreste was laid to rest at the too-young age of twelve.

His death was a freak accident, a cruel joke the world saw fit to play on the Agreste family. One night he had complained of stomach pains, and the following morning he was gone. The pain relievers Gabriel had given him had accomplished nothing.

His appendix had burst overnight. No one could have predicted it, the doctors had said. By the time anyone had realized what had been going on, it had been too late.

The funeral was a private affair. Outside of Gabriel and Emilie, no one was present to see their son buried in the shadowy atrium connected to their house. Light streamed in from a butterfly-shaped window, coating the inconsolable couple in a blue light befitting of their despair.

Gabriel coped the only way he knew how: he threw himself into his work, burying his grief under countless new designs and business deals. Nooroo sat perched on his shoulder, rubbing his little nubs against him in an attempt to comfort him. He rarely left his computer, instead choosing to have his meals brought to his desk. He couldn’t bear to see Emilie, or else his sorrow might finally catch up with him. As much as he needed space to process his loss, he knew that isolating himself from his wife was a selfish choice.

“Am I bad husband?” he asked Nooroo one day. He rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger, trying to ease their soreness from staring at a screen for so long.

His kwami flew in front of him. In his usual gentle tone, he said, “You’re coping with a loss no parent should have to face. You need time to process your grief. I’m certain that Emilie will understand.”

Satisfied with his answer, Gabriel resumed work on his fall lineup, planning out his next assortment of suits and dresses. He never allowed his focus to waver from his company’s future. Like Nooroo had said, Emilie would understand.

(He never noticed the peacock miraculous disappearing from its place in his safe, nor the long hours in which Emilie would put it to use. The surges of power below his feet went undetected day in and day out. Dozens of sentimonsters were brought to life and undone without his knowledge. Had he known, he might have second-guessed his kwami’s advice.)

* * *

It wasn’t until two weeks later that Gabriel had realized something was off.

A fit of joyful laughter echoed through the dead of night, waking Gabriel from his slumber. He pried himself off of his desk, stretching to overcome the aches plaguing his back. Too many nights spent asleep on an office chair had taken their toll on him. The only question was: had he dreamed the borderline-maniacal laughter as well?

Keeping the butterfly miraculous pinned to his suit, Gabriel navigated through the shadowy corridors of the Agreste mansion. He squinted to make out his surroundings amid the darkness, only broken by the faint glimmer of the moon above. His footsteps boomed like thunder in the silence of his estate. Nooroo flew ahead of him, returning with a look of concern plastered on his delicate features.

“Master, the lights are on in the dining room,” he nervously informed him.

A putrid yellow glow stretched out from underneath the massive doors. He adjusted his ascot, fearful of what he might find inside. Had one of his assistants forgotten to lock up the day before? What if someone had broken in? His miraculous could let him make quick work of an intruder, but he preferred to avoid using his powers unless absolutely necessary. The last thing his family needed were more problems to deal with.

Even as he braced himself to enter, he felt fearful of what he might find inside. Swallowing down the lump in his throat, he pushed through the double doors and stepped inside.

Adrien was waiting there for him.

“Father?” the boy hesitantly asked.

Gabriel stumbled back in utter shock. He appeared no different than he had been weeks before. It was as if he had never gotten sick in the first place. Was he dreaming? Or was this some hallucination brought on by overwork? As he shakily reached out to take the boy’s hand, determined to uncover whether he was real, he found an answer to his questions.

His wife stood off in the corner, transformed into Le Paon, clutching her head as giddy laughter poured out from within her. Her fingers twitched and trembled in the direction of the boy. The peacock miraculous pinned to her chest flashed and wavered, shining rapidly in a disturbing display of its power. Her lips were curled in a manic smile, and her eyes were wide with excitement.

Gabriel looked to his wife, then to the miraculous, then to the boy, and his face turned white.

“What…have…you… _done?_ ” he wheezed. He blanched in complete horror as he took in the sight before him.

“Our little boy is back!” his wife gleefully declared. “Isn’t it marvelous? He’s as good as new!”

She placed her hands over the sentimonster, resting them gently on his shoulder. It tilted its head at Gabriel as if _he_ were the oddity among the blue-skinned woman and the artificial child.

“This is Gabriel, your father,” she explained to it. “Don’t you remember all of the wonderful times we spent together as a family? Think back to those memories I shared with you.”

The creature blinked his dull eyes twice. The third time, they lit up with recognition and happiness. It flashed that charming smile that Adrien used to show, and Gabriel’s heart ached all the more.

“I remember you, Father!” it jovially declared. “I’ve been practicing that duet you wanted me to work on. Want to try it with me tomorrow?”

Gabriel’s horror only mounted further. He couldn’t stomach answering this… _thing_ …as if it were his own flesh and blood. It felt wrong looking at it, let along speaking to it.

At once, Emilie’s transformation faded, and she fell to her knees behind the sentimonster. Duusu spiraled around her, rattling off excited gibberish that visibly worried Nooroo as much as it did for Gabriel. Her miraculous was still cycling through its unusual colors. He rushed to his wife’s side, helping her onto one of the chairs by the dining table.

“What did you do?”

“I brought Adrien back to us,” she weakly explained. “It took so much work, Gabriel…so much practice and so many failures. However, I finally figured out how to sustain him.”

She coughed loudly into her shoulder. Her eyelids half-drooped as she met Gabriel’s appalled gaze.

“My chest feels like it’s on fire, and my head is spinning, but it’s okay. Any pain is worth having our son back in our lives once more.”

Her words did nothing to assuage his fear. All he felt was dread and disgust as he stared at the sentimonster. It was true, he would go to great lengths to have Adrien back…but that was only if they would end up with their _actual_ son. This imitation might share Adrien’s appearance and voice, but it was just a hollow shell filled with the life-giving power of the peacock miraculous. It could never take his son’s place.

(However, that was exactly what Emilie intended. No amount of suffering would convince her to recall the sentimonster modeled after her son. She was too focused on her own elation to notice her husband’s discomfort around her creation. Its amok was stashed away, intended to lay dormant and never influence it. The sentimonster would be there to stay in the Agreste household.)

* * *

Emilie’s health worsened each day, just as the sentimonster took on Adrien’s memories as its own. Her coughing fits grew more frequent and severe. Her smooth, pale skin took on a sickly complexion. It became difficult for her to stand up for lengthy periods of time.

Their assistant, Nathalie, did her best to help Emilie through these issues, completely oblivious to the underlying tension in the house. She brought home medications to treat Emilie’s woes, advised her to rest more, and even got a wheelchair for her to use. At best, she could delay the illness’s spread, but it inevitably worsened. It wasn’t long before Emilie became bedridden.

Gabriel knew the reason why. No modern medicine could treat the effects of a miraculous wearing down its user. Somehow, Emilie had broken the peacock miraculous. Creating a new being imbued with Adrien’s personality and memories had been difficult enough, but sustaining such a complex creation had damaged it.

Gabriel’s book of inspiration, taken from the mountains of Tibet, could only explain so much about misusing a miraculous. It offered grave warnings to those who overexerted its power, promising a steep decline in health unless its actions were undone. As hard as he searched through the few translated pages he had, none offered any hope for a cure to her ills.

Duusu was just as affected as Emilie. Her moods fluctuated at the drop of a hat. One moment, Gabriel would find her crying on Emilie’s head and blaming herself for her poor condition. The next thing he’d know, she would excitedly fly around the room and suggest creating _more_ sentimonsters, ones modeled after their deceased relatives and loved ones. No amount of effort by Nooroo could talk sense into the kwami. It was as if her mind had been broken along with the miraculous containing her.

The only one who wasn’t worsening was, of all things, the sentimonster. It took on Adrien’s hobbies and interests, learning Chinese and playing videogames like they were nothing new to it. It happily greeted Gabriel as its father each day, just as it regarded Emilie as its mother and fretted for her wellbeing. It seemed to get along well with Nathalie, who was blissfully ignorant of its true origins.

Gabriel did his best to shunt it into tutoring lessons and modeling shoots to spare himself from seeing it. He refused to treat it as his son. He could only hope that Emilie would wisen up and recall the sentimonster before she got worse.

(Emilie wouldn’t dare hurt a hair on the sentimonster’s head. It didn’t matter where it had come from – it was her son through-and-through. She could only hope that Gabriel would come to accept it and love it as she did.)

* * *

“For the last time, Emilie, tell me where its amok is!”

The door to Emilie’s bedroom was locked shut. Inside, Gabriel pleaded with his wife to undo the sentimonster. He hated being harsh with her, but if it meant saving her life, he would do so. It was killing her to keep the sentimonster active. Why didn’t she care?

“I forgot where I set it. I forgot what it looks like.” She pulled the IV machine closer to her bed, its tubes pumping life into her veins in a losing battle against time. “Even if I remembered, I wouldn’t tell you. You want to erase Adrien from our lives.”

“That isn’t Adrien!” he cried. “It’s a sentimonster! A creation of the peacock miraculous! If you don’t recall it, you may never wake up again!”

Her eyes fluttered at him. Nooroo and Duusu sat on her chest, cuddling close to her. Weakly, she pressed her head against his. Tears threatened to spill from within him.

“It’s a price I’m willing to pay,” she said to him.

(A few days later, Emilie fell into a coma. Gabriel did what he could to preserve her, placing her on life support in the atrium. The fact that she slept beside Adrien’s grave unnerved him to no end, but it was the only option he had. He fed the press and his associates stories of her going missing, even offering a public reward for information on her disappearance. He needed to maintain an illusion of normality while finding a solution to this new problem.)

* * *

Without Emilie’s presence in his life, Gabriel aimlessly pushed through each day, doing whatever needed to be done without getting a hint of joy from it. Waking up was a chore – Emilie still lingered in his dreams, and each night he returned to her while he slept. Going about his regular life became an obligation more than the adventure it once was.

His assistants and staff tried their best to help him through his loss. Countless sympathy cards were sent to him, and nearly all of them went unread. Several company managers at Agreste offered him business cards for grief counselors and recommendations for group therapy sessions. The comment sections on his brand’s social media page were flooded with well-wishers and messages of support.

None of them would bring Emilie back, though, so they didn’t matter to Gabriel. He coped in the only way he knew how: by hardening his heart against his sorrow. Grief turned to anger, and anguish became cold determination. He hollowed himself out of any emotions that could be considered weaknesses.

Nooroo strongly advised against this, warning him that sadness was perfectly healthy after losing a loved one. He fearfully told Gabriel that anger was only good when used productively, and that cultivating it would only hurt himself. His advice fell on deaf ears.

To his dismay, the sentimonster was also being affected by Emilie’s disappearance. It carried itself far less happily than it had when Emilie still appeared healthy. Long sighs and wistful stares replaced its elated laughter and optimistic, wide-eyed looks.

It was on a particularly rough day for the Agrestes that it approached Gabriel in his office. Its hands were clenched behind its back, and its feet shuffled nervously with each step. It couldn’t meet Gabriel’s cold glare head-on.

“Father…” it hesitantly began. “…Do you…do you think that Mom’s coming back? I miss her so much. I just want us to be a family again.”

Had these words been spoken by the _real_ Adrien, Gabriel might have swept the boy up in a hug and comforted him as best as he could. Face-to-face with this imitation who dared mimic his beloved child, Gabriel’s rage spilled out.

“Don’t you dare lump yourself together with your mother!” he barked. “You aren’t a part of this family. It’s your fault that she isn’t with us anymore!”

The sentimonster recoiled in shock at his harsh comments. A breath caught in its throat as it whispered, “You don’t…mean…”

“I meant every word that I said! You are not an Agreste, and you will never be one!” He jutted his finger at the door. “You are to stay in your room until you are told otherwise! Is that clear?”

Its lips trembled as fresh tears spilled down its cheeks. Weakly rubbing his eyes, it choked down its sobs and dutifully said, “Yes, Father,” before retreating to its room.

Gabriel scoffed dismissively at the creature’s show of emotions. Shrugging off the incident, he resumed translating more of his book of inspiration. The lines he was working on, referencing the reality-changing powers of the ladybug and black cat miraculouses, caught his complete attention.

(He ignored the wailing of the sentimonster on the other side of the wall. He refused to allow it to emotionally manipulate him. Everything it felt was a farce, just like the creature itself.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story had been in the back of my head ever since the "Adrien is a sentimonster" theories really took off. I wanted to write something existential and angsty about Gabriel having to cope with a sentimonster essentially replacing his son. Given Gabriel's spotty record of parenting in the show, I figured it would take a while for him to finally warm up to the idea. Don't worry, this fanfic won't be all doom-and-gloom!
> 
> Part 2 will come sometime next week. Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

Something changed in the sentimonster after that verbal beatdown from Gabriel. Convinced that Emilie’s disappearance had driven the man into the depths of despair, and that he was taking that anger out on it, the sentimonster became determined to win its father’s love and approval.

It threw itself into Adrien’s activities with gusto, excelling in areas where even the original Adrien failed. It rose to the top of its fencing class, rivaling even D’Argencourt with its prowess. It rapidly learned more about the Chinese language, becoming good enough to do limited translations on its own. Nathalie had nothing but praise for it when reviewing their tutoring sessions. The modeling photos featuring it garnered thousands of likes online.

This success carried onto even the most minute things. The sentimonster’s reflexes were incredible in everything from foosball to fighting games. Its natural charm won over nearly everyone it came across. Old friends like Chloe Bourgeois could tell no difference between it and the original Adrien. It recovered quickly from injuries and scrapes, and sickness steered clear of it entirely.

In every sense of the word, it was perfect.

(Gabriel could’ve cared less about its accomplishments. It was a blight on his household, a painful reminder of his wife’s terrible fate. He responded to its moments of pride by placing it into even more activities to keep it busy and out of his hair.)

* * *

The start of the school year brought with it some turbulent changes for the Agrestes. Gabriel finally conceded to the sentimonster’s wishes to attend school, albeit with plenty of strings attached. Even with those conditions, it had been ecstatic when Gabriel had broken the news to it. The sentimonster embraced its long-gone cheeriness and carried itself with far less heavy-heartedness than before. Unlike most children, it was over the moon about going to school.

At the same time, Gabriel began his reign of terror as Hawk Moth. He struck fear into the hearts of all Parisians by using the butterfly miraculous’s powers for evil. Ordinary citizens undergoing emotional turmoil would become dangerous supervillains without warning, all for the sole purpose of luring Ladybug and Chat Noir out and defeating them. Once he obtained their earrings and ring, he could undo the mistake that cost Emilie her health.

However, he never made substantial progress. The heroic duo would always save the day, leaving him empty-handed and back at square one. Every akuma he unleashed was no closer than the last to taking Ladybug and Chat Noir’s miraculouses.

He was usually able to keep a cool head after losing, but there were times when he did need to vent his frustrations – usually at the sentimonster. He threatened to pull it out of school when it remotely disobeyed him. He kept a tight leash on its social activities. He even denied it a birthday party; after all, why would a creature like it deserve to celebrate its creation? All of these things it took in stride, assuming that this cold attitude was normal for a grieving parent to have.

(As the boy’s circle of friends grew, the cracks began to form around this conviction. He saw Marinette’s parents pulling her into a loving embrace after a long day’s work at the bakery. He smiled at photos of Alya cuddling up with her family on the couch to watch some late-night TV. He laughed along with Nino at the DJ’s antics in and out of the classroom. Slowly, he began to wonder why his own father didn’t show nearly that much love and affection toward him.)

* * *

Simon Says sparked the beginning of Gabriel’s suspicions about Chat Noir.

He had allowed himself to be taken by the akumatized magician’s forces, hoping to lure Ladybug and Chat Noir into a losing battle with such a dangerous foe. Even as the villain forced him to flap around like a butterfly on the edge of the TV studio’s roof, he refused to admit that the effort was a total disaster. After all, the akuma’s defeat allowed him to get an up-close look at Ladybug’s earrings and Chat Noir’s ring. Now he knew what to look for when tracking down their civilian identities!

His delight came crashing to a halt when he checked up on the blond-haired boy in his house. During their quick hug, initiated by Gabriel when he had realized that his associates were unharmed by the akuma, he found a distinct silver ring on his hand. It lacked the black metal sheen and green paw print emblem of the miraculous, but it appeared to be the same design.

“I’ve never noticed your ring before,” Gabriel commented in surprise.

The boy appeared as taken aback as Gabriel was. Crossing his arms over his chest, he uncharacteristically snapped, “Is that the only thing you’ve never noticed about me?”

He ignored the obvious tension in the boy’s voice. “I’m glad everything worked out for the best,” he said, leaving the boy to his own devices. Gabriel spent the day poring over his book of inspiration, comparing the illustration of the black cat hero to the boy wearing that ring.

(The boy was learning to rebel against Gabriel in small ways. He continued maintaining his perfect image while bending his father’s rules however he could. He happily stuck around Nino in spite of Gabriel’s clear disapproval of him. When Chloe’s behavior would become too toxic to condone, he would put his foot down and stand up for anyone that she bullied. Most of all, he refused to use the Agreste family name to get what he wanted. He insisted on being treated no better than any of his classmates, in stark opposition to Gabriel’s superiority complex.)

* * *

The disappearance of Gabriel’s book of inspiration proved to be a breaking point for him.

When the boy admitted to losing it at school, he made good on his threats to pull him from classes. He marched into his office and locked the door behind him. Surrounded by reminders of the life he once had, and confronted with the painted Emilie’s loving gaze, he snapped. Pictures were pulled off the wall and thrown against the floor, coating the tiles in broken glass. Antique books were torn apart and left in mutilated heaps. Gifts from Emilie and her family were shattered like they were worthless trash.

He paused his rampage for a moment, finding a crude picture of the Agreste family drawn by Adrien. He ran his thumb over his son’s signature. Memories surfaced of how proud the young boy had been when he had presented Gabriel and Emilie with his drawing.

He tossed it aside, letting it break like the other mementos. To his disappointment, an amok never appeared among the wreckage. His tirade had only given him temporary satisfaction. Wordlessly, he marched onto the lift and descended into the atrium. White butterflies swarmed in the air upon his arrival.

Fine, he thought to himself. He would deal with this betrayal on his own.

(All the while, the boy fretted over the lost book. He pleaded with his friends for help in finding it. He tried to apologize further to his father, but Nathalie wouldn’t let him see him. She insisted that he needed time to himself. The boy just hoped that he would forgive him and not do anything brash.)

* * *

Of course, being Gabriel Agreste, he _had_ done something brash. To throw off suspicion about his secret identity and give himself a fighting chance against the heroes, he had akumatized himself into The Collector. He had stormed through the Agreste estate, capturing anything – or anyone – within reach inside his book. Indifferent to the thought of Chat Noir being his son, he had fought the heroic duo with reckless abandon.

It hadn’t made a difference in the end. Ladybug and Chat Noir had de-evilized him like the other villains and purified the akuma. At least no one would accuse him of being Hawk Moth anytime soon. He had covered his tracks thoroughly.

When the dust had settled, and the akuma’s malicious influence left his system, an unexpected emotion overwhelmed him: shame.

His tantrum had destroyed family heirlooms and pictures, all of which had significant sentimental value to him. They weren’t just pricy vases or exotic paintings, they held precious memories of time spent with his family. What had all that destruction had been for, trying to erase a child that loved him no matter how cold and distant he acted? He felt dirty, even after being freed from the akuma. He hadn’t realized how deep his antipathy towards the boy had run. It disturbed him to no end.

To top it off, one of his classmates showed up at his doorstep the next morning with the book in hand. Marinette Dupain-Cheng, he remembered her from the hat designing contest. Explaining how she had gotten her hands on the book, she had nervously bowed to him and asked that her friend be allowed to return to school.

In the past, he might have given her a good tongue-lashing for withholding the book for so long. However, he couldn’t bring himself to break the girl’s spirits. She had been open, honest, and apologetic about the situation. He sent her off without a hint of criticism, happy that his book of inspiration had been returned at long last.

“I’m sorry I became so furious over a book,” Gabriel said to the boy after shutting the vault behind Emilie’s portrait.

Adrien continued to apologize, saying, “I shouldn’t have taken it without your permission.”

Opening himself up to the boy, Gabriel admitted a half-truth about the book: that it was a last gift from Emilie. As one of his few remaining connections to her, it was a possession that meant the world to him.

“All I have left of her is this book…and you.”

No malice slipped into his voice as he made that comment. He had finally accepted the fate left on his family. It wasn’t the boy’s fault that Emilie had left herself comatose by creating him. Berating him and trying to control his life wouldn’t bring her back. She would have wanted him to be a happy, successful child.

“But I know I can’t keep the book or you locked up in this house forever…”

The boy’s eyebrows raised in astonishment. “Does that mean you’ll let me go back to school, then?”

Laying his hands on the boy’s shoulders, he gave him a quick nod of approval. Immediately, the boy wrapped his arms around him, pressing his head against his chest with a warm smile. He almost sounded choked-up when he said, “Thank you, Father!”

In that moment, he didn’t care that he was holding an imitation of his child. When he closed his eyes and let his mind go blank, all he could hear and feel was his son back in his arms once more. That was what mattered most.

(This unprecedented show of affection meant the world to Adrien. He believed that his efforts to win his father’s love had finally paid off. Convinced that they were the reason for Gabriel’s change of heart, he continued to put his best foot forward with his other activities. After all, he couldn’t let his father down with a bad test score or disappointing fencing match, could he?)

* * *

Gabriel’s desire to uncover Chat Noir’s identity clashed with his growing fondness for the boy. Every akuma he released churned the butterflies in his stomach, fearful that his new villain might endanger him. He almost wanted the heroes to triumph just so he wouldn’t have to deal with those consequences.

Eventually, the tension became too much to bear. He wanted…no, he _needed_ to uncover the truth. The only way he could do that was to hold Adrien’s feet to the fire.

On the day of Agreste’s new marketing campaign for Adrien-brand perfume, Gabriel released one of his most ruthless akumas yet. Gorizilla was a massive, unstoppable force that could track its targets through scent. There was no way that anyone he was pursuing could elude him.

Gabriel’s orders had been simple: find Adrien, capture him, keep him in sight at all times, and apprehend Ladybug. The giant blue ape had dutifully followed through with the commands, and no amount of hijinks from Ladybug or Adrien could put him off their trail. He eventually took hold of the two at the top of one of Paris’s skyscrapers, yet Chat Noir was nowhere in sight.

It appeared that Gabriel’s worst fears might be true.

The only hitch in his plan was how Gorizilla was supposed to take Ladybug’s earrings. With one hand holding Adrien and the other holding Ladybug, the akuma couldn’t reach the spotted heroine’s miraculous. His massive fingers were too stubby to get a grip on the jewelry.

The standstill between hero and villain came to abrupt end when Ladybug somehow maneuvered a remote-controlled helicopter while inside Gorizilla’s grasp. It bounced against the akuma’s face until it roared in rage, dropping the heroine so it could swat at the toy. Despite Gabriel’s demands for him to recapture Ladybug, it failed to react in time when she managed to loosen his grip on Adrien.

Then, at her insistence, he launched himself off the building, freefalling towards the concrete with no apparent way of saving himself.

“ _No!_ ” Gabriel’s scream echoed through the atrium.

Gorizilla grabbed Ladybug before she could dive after him. Adrien continued plummeting, arms spread wide as if he were skydiving.

As if he wasn’t brushing close to death.

Gabriel couldn’t bear to watch. His heart pounded against his chest. “If indeed you are Chat Noir, son, then transform, please!”

He had to stay cold, detached. This was the only way to prove whether he was the black-clad superhero who ruined his plans day in and day out. It wasn’t what he wanted to do, but it was what he _had_ to do.

Emilie would’ve wanted to come back, wouldn’t she? The only way to do that was with the ladybug and black cat miraculouses. If his son was Chat Noir, then he could talk him into working with him. There would be no need to fight, no need for the akumas or evil schemes! They would be a family again!

“Come on, son…”

He gritted his teeth, cringing at the sight of his beloved Adrien ready to perish. He had to be firm. Adrien was just a sentimonster. He was…

He was his child. Emilie would never be able to live without her son…nor would he.

“ _Drop Ladybug!_ ”

At once, the akuma released the heroine from his grasp. She narrowly pulled off a spectacular rescue, securing Adrien with her yo-yo and gently lowering them both to the ground. All around them, a growing crowd cheered at the heroic feat.

For once, Gabriel breathed a sigh of relief that his akuma had failed. He gave it new orders to secure Ladybug and Adrien once again, but he knew that its time was up. It was only a matter of time before she defeated Gorizilla alongside her partner.

His relief only increased when Chat Noir and Adrien were found standing in the same plaza after Gorizilla’s defeat. They couldn’t be in the same place at the same time. That put an end to his worries about risking his son’s life for his goal. He had no leads on who Chat Noir could be, but he felt all the better for it. He couldn’t imagine how he would’ve reacted if it had been Adrien all along.

(In the aftermath of the akuma attack, Adrien could never explain why Gorizilla had let Ladybug go after him. Hawk Moth had never cared about people getting hurt before, so why would he make an exception for him? The only answer he could think of was that Ladybug had somehow pried herself free from the akuma’s grip. His lady was crafty enough to pull that sort of thing off.)

* * *

Style Queen had completely shaken Gabriel’s resolve. He had put so much work into creating the perfect scenario for an akumatization, only for Adrien to be her first victim. Only the quick thinking of Ladybug, and whatever had caused that wave of devastation around the Eiffel Tower, had undone his tragic mistake.

For the first time, he was seriously thinking of abandoning the Hawk Moth mantle for good. He now knew that his family wasn’t safe from rampaging akumas, even if his son wasn’t Chat Noir. Creating more supervillains meant knowingly putting Adrien and Nathalie in harm’s way.

“I think this is the right choice, Master,” Nooroo had said on the way to the fashion show. “You don’t need Emilie to have a loving relationship with your son.”

Arriving at the show, Gabriel was greeted by Adrien, his classmates, and their parents. Without any pressure to create akumas or manipulate people, he could speak freely and hold back his usual volley of snide remarks and criticisms. He could act like a proper father to Adrien.

It was…it was nice.

He wasn’t sure how long this calm would remain before another storm raged, but he intended to enjoy it while it lasted. Adrien deserved his undivided attention and love. Emilie would understand why he was letting go of her.

(Adrien might miss his mother, but with his father by his side, he believed that everything would turn out alright.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to conclude the story after Style Queen because it felt like a natural point for wrapping up Gabriel's acceptance arc. That, and it's one of the last times in the show Gabriel does something genuinely selfless for Adrien. Whether he resumes his hunt for the miraculouses (as he does in canon) or abandons being Hawk Moth entirely is open for interpretation here.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who read the story! I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
